Ellis says his departure from Dallas stems from Phillips’ decision

IRVING – Greg Ellis notched 20½ sacks for the Dallas Cowboys the last two seasons.

So why will he line up at defensive end Thursday in the Oakland Raiders’ 4-3 alignment instead of outside linebacker in the Cowboys’ 3-4 scheme?

Dallas saved $4.15 million in salary cap space when they cut Ellis in the offseason, but he suggested this week in a conference call that the decision mainly boiled down to coach Wade Phillips wanting to go with his guy.

That would be third-year player Anthony Spencer, who has yet to record a sack this season.

“(Phillips) thought, ‘OK, this was the first-round pick I was involved in drafting,’ and coaches take some pride…in those first-round picks,” said Ellis, who spent 11 seasons with Dallas. “Forever and ever I’m going to be labeled as Chan Gailey’s first-round pick and the same thing with Anthony Spencer (and Phillips).

“So, I’m pretty sure Wade wanted to get Anthony out there because he’s the one who got him and he had faith he could get the job done.”

Told Ellis’ comments, Phillips said, “Greg did a great job for us and we were glad when we had him and now we don’t, so that’s really where it is.”

Despite turning 34 in August, Ellis has five sacks for the 3-7 Raiders, including one in last week’s 20-17 upset of AFC-North leading Cincinnati.

“Greg has been very good for this team for a number of reasons,” Oakland coach Tom Cable said. “He’s been in the league awhile, understands how to prepare and what it takes to succeed in this league. He’s given us some very good play.”

Ellis said he won’t be out for revenge Thursday and is approaching the game like he would any other.

“It was never anything personal,” Ellis said. “I think some players, they make the mistake. They get mad with the owner, get mad with the organization and say bad things about the organization. But you have to understand football does have a business side to it because there’s so much money involved.”

Ellis, though, made it clear he would have preferred ending his career with Dallas.

“You can’t play on one team forever,” he said.” You enjoy the years you were there. I told (owner) Jerry (Jones) I wish we had won the big one while I was there. We didn’t, and he felt like it was time to make a decision.”